Suja Sukhdev

  Abstinence and Shravan                                       A week into the month of Shravan, my thoughts raced to the eve of Shravan 2020. This was a year of many firsts for me.  One amongst  them was ‘keeping Shravan’.  It all started suddenly like most things, unplanned and unthought-of for the previous half of my life (pre-50!).  A friend mentioned ‘keeping Shravan’.  I was like “You and Shravan?” and after a few exchanges of texts it was “I am joining you this Shravan!”. Thus, the story of my 'Shravan 'began. Impromptu like many other things in my life. Shravan symbolizes ‘Abstinence’ to most of us. Abstinence from the goodies of life and leading a ‘Sattvic’ existence as my friend put it. It is supposed to cleanse our body (digestive system) and our mind as we learned to exerc...

  SILENCE PLEASE……… I escorted my friend to the doctor’s clinic made her comfortable and settled down beside her feeling relieved. We had finally made it despite the incessant rains.   I patted her hand trying to put her at ease and added a smile too.   She forced a smile and sighed.   So much was unsaid.   Sometimes, silence speaks more than a thousand words.   My eyes surveyed the room.  The ‘Silence please’ poster across the room caught my attention.  A common feature in most patient waiting rooms.  It seemed so appropriate and yet so discomforting at the same time. We are trained to be silent.  Silent in joy, silent in love, and silent in grief. All these occasions and many more don’t deserve silence.  It is this silence, that screams out the loudest.  We need to give an ear to this. Why is expression considered so unclassy? Is that the right word? We learned “ Silence is a virtue”.  Not always. Is silence not an...

  HOPELESSNESS TO HOPE …….. A JOURNEY As I watched the news on a particular channel, that ended with a good news story, my lips curled in a slight smile.  Hope, in these times, seemed rather alien a thought.  I pondered on these two words. Hope and Hopelessness. These words, I believe resonates with each one of us.  We find ourselves oscillating from one to the other many times in our lives.  Sometimes, many a time each day.  In this still new (although more than a year old now) covid situation, can we be blamed? After all, hope and hopelessness has never been alien to civilization. They have been a constant with humanity. From HOPELESSNESS to HOPE and vice-versa is a journey that all of us have taken time and again. These feelings walk together. Thanks to the uncertainties that we are facing today (It was always there, but not as much!) every situation seems overwhelming.   We seem to be taking this journey more often.   With no...